Chinese flag carrier Air China reported strong third-quarter earnings, but said the main reasons were special and seasonal factors. Air China posted a net profit of 3.30 billion yuan ($418 million) for the July-September period on turnover of 13.94 billion yuan, the company said on Saturday.
The carrier did not provide year-earlier figures because it only began reporting third-quarter earnings when it listed in Shanghai in August. The third-quarter profit was almost as large as Air China's net profit of 3.34 billion yuan for the first nine months of this year. But the third quarter was inflated by a 3.01 billion yuan investment gain in the period, the company said.
In addition, July-September earnings were boosted by seasonal factors as the airline industry entered its busiest time of year, Air China said.
For all of 2006, Air China predicted net profit would jump at least 50 percent from 2.41 billion yuan in 2005, but it noted that most of this rise would be due to the third-quarter investment gain.
Chinese airlines are enjoying strong traffic growth in a booming economy, but high oil prices have erased most of the benefit to their bottom lines. Air China was the only one of China's three top carriers to post a profit for the first half of this year.
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